Life is an Ass
by Pidgee Squishee
Summary: Five times Pidge turns away from the paladins. Five times she has the chance to make amends. One time where she fixes it. (Rated M due to torture scenes, but NO NON/CON!)


_The first thing Pidge noted was the darkness completely enveloping her vision- she felt the pressure of a cloth covering her face, so she was certain blindness was not in her case._

_The second thing she noticed was how she was completely restrained, feet elevated down a sorry ramp of a table, her head at the lowest point._

_Lastly, she grew aware of other presences in the room._

"_The Paladin is awake, sire." A rough voice muttered. A man chuckled, and moved to Pidge's side._

"_I see, Vykrox. Gather the material, we will have much fun with this one." The man in charge replied._

_A shiver went down Pidge's spine- what the heck would they do to her? Her mind jumped to the worst scenarios possible, tears threatening to spill. That was when another voice sounded._

"_Pidge?" A recognizable voice whispered, and the Green Paladin paled._

_Whatever happened, she didn't want Hunk to see. _

"_I- Hunk- whatever they do to me, don't look, okay? You- you don't deserve that." She replied, choking on her words._

_Vykrox returned with whatever the general had asked, and she took a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst._

_She was not expecting the cold water pouring onto her face. Holding her breath, the stream had yet to end. Her mind forced her to inhale- but water only seemed to enter._

_Water was everywhere- what had happened to the air? It was as her body began to spasm that they had stopped._

"_Tell us where you've hidden your Lions." The general demanded._

"_No." Pidge spat, but the effort wasn't much good with the wet cloth on her face._

"_Hm, Vykrox, change the temperature."_

"_Yes, Yalex." Vykrox replied, dropping the bucket with the clang. He picked up another, and shuffled to the table._

"_Begin." Yalex instructed, and a stream of boiling hot water made it's way through Pidge's throat as she screamed._

_Hunk was sobbing- the sloshing muffled it, but she knew he was crying. She began to spasm, but they didn't stop. She felt a weight tug at the edge of her mind- her body begging her for a break- but she wouldn't give in. No matter how badly it hurt, she would stay strong._

"_M' fi—n" She gurgled through her last breath. The hot water was still coming, and her spawning body began to shut down. It started in her toes, and was now tugging at her eyelids._

_Please let us rest. Her mind begged._

_Okay. We can rest now. She answered._

_The pain was no longer- she was free._

Lyn woke up with a start. Breathing heavily, she pulled her stuffed lion closer to her heart. It had been five years since the end of the war- but she could never break free of the terror. She had tried therapy- but nobody understood.

So she went to college, and half the time she wondered why she bothered attempting to get back into earth culture. Her roommate hated her, that was obvious, and she had no friends.

Why did she just leave everyone behind, again? _Because you were scared. _Right.

She picked up her sketchbook and flipped to the first unused page. She broke out her paintbrushes and paints, and began working.

A lonely bird, sitting in the middle of a lake, wings dipping as it contemplated going down or up.

The bird was a pigeon.

It was her.

Sighing, she turned on her phone and logged into her Instagram, rolling her eyes at the dumb comments on her art posts.

EsraVesselak3.14 WOW! KTSD! Love your work! :000 where do you get your inspiration.

_The trauma._

Imahuggeruwu What's the story behind 'isolated in a crowd?'

_Being thrown into a war at age fourteen._

There were so many things she could say, but didn't. Things she could do, but decided against.

Turning to her clock, it was four. Closing the sketchbook, she turned everything off and tucked herself in, preying the nightmares would lay off for a few hours.

Thank Allura somebody answered her pleas.

"Lyn, wake up." The former paladin's roommate, Marisa, grumbled. Marisa was Hispanic, but lacked any interest in the culture. She enjoyed sappy Netflix shows and sneaking beer, which usually was shit. Her friends, Ivana and Hope were typically in the room, which bugged Lyn for some reason.

"It's Saturday, Marisa." Lyn grumbled, turning around.

"Yeah, but I have people coming over. I don't want you here." She replied, causing Lyn to groan. She stood, and grabbed plaid gray shorts with suspenders and a white crop-top, then proceeded to head to the bathroom.

She changed in a stall, throwing her clothes quickly on her bed and returning to the bathroom to wash up. Her hair was half-shaved, while the other half was short and permed, the curls covering the burns on the right side of her face.

Holding her phone, she found directions to the nearest bakery, suddenly craving cake. Finding a bakery that had good reviews, she set out into the city of Boston.

"Hm- il shiro ui leon-" she muttered aloud, stepping inside. Life punched her in the gut as she realized who was working at the register. He smiled and waved, thankfully not recognizing her.

What the hell was Hunk doing in Massachusetts?

She bit her lip and walked up to the register, praying to Allura that he didn't recognize her. She shouldn't have prayed to the woman who brought them all together; fuck- she should've prayed to Satan, because his lips twitched, and he had asked, "Pidge?"

Panicked, Lyn lied. "Who?" She replied.

"Oh! My bad- you just looked like an old friend that I haven't seen in ages!"

She nodded and made her order.

"Name to go with that?" He asked.

"Lyn." She replied, taking a seat and pulling out her phone. She played a few rounds of Bitlife, when her name was called. She grabbed the cake, and left.

She wanted to cry. She didn't care if Marisa had friends over, Katlyn Paige Holt had a fucking right to be on her bed, and eat cake while sobbing.

So, she marched in and kicked Marisa's friends out, sat on the top bunk, and watched Netflix while crying and eating cake.

It was the perfect night.

A/N Thank you for joining me for chapter one of 'Life is an Ass'! So basically; every chapter has a moment where Pidge decided she can't be around a certain Paladin, and then encountering them in life! The last chapter will involve her making amends with herself and seeking them all out! The bakery name is a mix of Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish! According to Google Translate, Shiro is Japanese for Castle so roll with it. The full name means "The Castle of Lions"


End file.
